People need a quiet and comfortable sleep environment in order to gain the full benefits of restful sleep. However, real sleep environments often include a variety of noises—for instance snoring and other noises from a sleep partner; machine and ventilation noises from the house; and vehicle and animal noises from outside. An ideal sleep environment would eliminate these potentially disruptive sounds.
Current noise cancellation technologies are fairly limited. Conventional active noise cancellation technology is effective in a very close proximity range when the user is wearing headphones with speakers right next to the ear. For a user to experience silence, they have to wear the noise cancelling headphones, which are often uncomfortable and inconvenient. Other solutions, such as ear plugs or white noise machines, are less than totally effective as they muffle or drown out noises rather than cancelling them.
There is therefore a need for noise cancellation technology that genuinely eliminates noises while not adversely affecting the comfort of the user.